Is your business ready to go mobile?

IoIC Live considers how internal apps and a mobile technology strategy can add real value to your business.

“Why don’t we make an app?” The new-age question loved by execs and loathed by most comms folk. But are workplace apps just another fad?

At this year’s IoIC Live conference, one workshop will explore how to successfully adopt mobile technology in the workplace.

We start with a look at what you need to know – and to ask – about launching and maintaining mobile technology. Sharon O’Dea is an experienced web professional, specialising in digital workplace and digital strategy, and a champion for social media in the workplace. “We need an app” may be the start point for many organisations, but Sharon will talk us through the first steps and questions, and the considerations, opportunities and mobile options to create effective mobile technology.

She draws on her own experience, including developing one of the first mobile intranets seven years ago for the Houses of Parliament; working as a web adviser to the Iraqi government; and her role as head of digital communications at global bank Standard Chartered.

For the past year, Sharon has been working as a freelance consultant, developing award-winning enterprise collaboration adoption and digital engagement strategy for clients including the Department for International Trade.

Attendees will also hear how an app was pivotal in creating engagement and excitement for a major internal event. Sophie Manders and Hayley Taylor of Nationwide talk us through their experience. The annual staff award ceremony is one of the most anticipated events in Nationwide’s calendar. However, for internal communicators it can be the more challenging of times: how do you get and keep staff to engage with and be excited about the corporate celebration?

For Nationwide, the answer was a socially-focused, easy-to-use event app. Launched four weeks before Nationwide’s annual awards event, staff used the app to share outfit photos and to chat about the event. Content provided by the Nationwide comms team included Q&A sessions and staff polls. The app achieved some impressive user stats – including a user rate of 94 per cent – and has been used for other events to ramp up excitement and connect event attendees.

But how did they pull it off? Sophie and Hayley will discuss their app experience: from establishing a business case to collecting and reflecting on feedback and metrics.

Come to IoIC Live in Bristol in May and hear more thought-provoking insight and practical tips for the workplace about developing a mobile technology strategy.

This year’s event, one of the most important on the internal comms calendar, looks at how practitioners can make IC the beating heart of the organisation.

To convince and engage at all levels, internal comms teams need sharp skills, an arsenal of tools, and confidence to deliver what’s best for their audiences and organisations. This year, IoIC Live17 focuses on the core skills that IC professionals need to demonstrate each and every day.